


sunchoke

by 500shadesofblue



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, just posting this excerpt from echoes so it can be referenced!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 10:57:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19828744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/500shadesofblue/pseuds/500shadesofblue





	sunchoke

The sun is still up, but only just. Sunset is fast approaching, and Foosha Village is already buzzing with people. Fireflies burn in the balmy spring air, twinkling stars brought to earth, and the delicious smell of food wafts through the town.

Wooden tables - clever foldout contraptions all handmade by the local carpenters - line the main square in neat rows, laden with mouthwatering platters and bowls full of food, creaking and groaning from the weight.

Everyone who can be here is here, from the countryside farmers to families from nearby neighboring villages, and everyone has brought something. Wood-oven roasted meats and vegetables sautéed in sour-sweet sauces, baskets full of baked potato bread with walnuts, chewy sourdough and pillowy rolls, all warm and fresh and baked earlier today in preparation for the night: all these and more are packed onto the simple tablecloths brought from home, pans and platters and tureens for sauces, simple crockery and fine porcelain alike.

Barrels full of fluffy, buttery popcorn close the gaps between tables, sprinkled with salt and still hot from the popping pots. Valentine has made popcorn plenty of times herself, simple and simply delicious, and though it’s quick and easy enough to make, it’s hard as hell to keep Luffy away from it ‘til it’s cool enough not to burn his mouth. (All of their dæmons usually gather round the pot to watch, ears twitching and eyes bright, noses crinkling at the smell of butter and the thunderous pops. It’s the most entertaining late-night snack in her repertoire.)

Unlit firepits sit laden with tinder and wood in preparation for roasting what several families will be bringing come sundown. There’s plenty of meats as-is, baked in great haunches or sliced thin and fried, seasoned and sauced, but the roast pigs will be the centerpiece. They always are, every year. (Both Luffy and Ace are unspeakably excited, the latter a moderate and possibly appropriate amount, the former loudly. Luffy’s been talking about the festival for two months.)

And it’s difficult to spot, but if Valentine cranes her neck, she can see that Mrs. Miller has brought a whole potful of her famous sunchoke mash.

Her mouth waters.

Mrs. Miller cooks them ‘til they’re soft and smashes them down with the back of a wooden spoon. Butter and salt and pepper and some sort of herb; that’s all she seasons it with, and the creamy, slightly nutty flavor of it melts into a melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness that Valentine could eat by the bucketful. (She’s had it enough times that she can almost taste it already.)

That’s if she doesn’t eat everything else by the bucketful. Thank god the eating comes before the dancing.


End file.
